Trading Yesterday
by teesloverB01
Summary: Caroline finds Tyler at her front door one morning and reluctantly has to tell him about Jeremy's death. Tyler doesn't take it very well and... well... let's just say someone finally puts Elena in her place. Implied Jyler, no slash.


A/N: So I kinda quit watching TVD because Jeremy died. -_-

But my mom still watches it, so I caught a little bit of it and from what I did see, Elena's being just a little bit of a bitch, just a little. I mean, she's like all powerful and fun now, but I don't know, I just had to get this out.

Oh and everything's mostly the same, except Caroline and Tyler aren't together, they're just really good friends. Same with everyone else. And, just forget about the sire bond right now. And again, implied Jyler.

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

* * *

"All right, I'm coming!" Caroline cried as she walked to her front door. She stopped in her tracks when her visitor came into full view. Her mouth made an 'O' shape and she ran to open the door in glee. "Tyler! Oh my god, what are you doing here?" She jumped into his arms and he laughed as he stumbled back from the sudden weight. "What about Klaus? What about-"

"Caroline, Caroline. Calm down, ok. I don't want to worry about that right now. I just want to look at you, in all your bed-head glory."

"Oh, uhh…" She looked away, embarrassed. It was 2:00 a.m! She couldn't be expected to look presentable until morning, at least. Then she turned back to him in anger, promptly shoving him into a wall. "You jerk, what is wrong with you!? I left you, like, a thousand messages! Why didn't you call back?!"

Tyler chuckled and walked to her living room, plopping down on the sofa. "Sorry, I lost my phone. I know, totally lame, right? What'd you want to tell me?"

Caroline's smile turned into a frown. She completely forgot the fact that Tyler didn't know yet. She sat down next to him and took his hands in her own. "Tyler…"

"What is it, Care? You're starting to scare me, what happened?" He met her tearful eyes.

"Umm, Tyler…" She took a deep breath and looked down. "Jeremy is dead."

And in that moment, those three words sent Tyler's world crashing down. He came back to see them, to see all of them, especially Jeremy. It was supposed to be the only good thing that happened to him in these last few weeks and now… he was gone? Just like that? "No. No, you're lying to me." He was breathing all wrong now. It came out raspy, uncontrolled. He tore away from her grip and spun around, not knowing what to do next. He ran his fingers through his hair and held them there. "You're lying."

He gripped his hair tighter. "You're lying." Maybe if he said it enough times, he could convince himself it was true. She was lying, she had to be. _Liar. Liar. _He repeated the word over and over in his head to see if it helped. All it did was make him feel more hollow. He shut his eyes tight before any tears could come.

He laughed at himself. Why would he be crying? There was no reason to, Jeremy wasn't dead. He wasn't dead. "He's not dead," his voice broke on the third word.

"I'm sorry, Tyler. He's gone." She pulled him back to the couch and hugged him as he just kept his elbows on his knees, not bothering to even glance up.

It wasn't sinking in. If he didn't accept it, there'd be no pain. Nothing would hurt. They'd be fine, right? No. Nothing was fine. Far from it. He wouldn't cry, though. He wouldn't let himself break. "What… what happened?"

"Silas happened. He killed him." Caroline was crying a little now. She held him closer.

The island. Jeremy was killed on the island with 4 vampires and a witch and they couldn't protect him? They didn't do anything? But he didn't have time to be angry, because by then, it finally reached him. Jeremy was dead.

Tears were welling up in his eyes but he wouldn't let them fall. He buried his face into Caroline's shoulder as she tried to soothe him. "Wait, Elena." He looked back up at her, taking in a deep breath before speaking again. "How… how's Elena doing?"

"She's ok. She… uhh… She shut it off."

"She what?"

"Flipped the switch. Turned her humanity off, so she didn't have to feel it anymore."

"Right." Tyler got up and started going for the door. "Can I see her? I want to, umm, talk to her."

"Yeah, sure. She's with Damon and Stefan right now. I'll… I'll drive." They drove there in silence. Well, at least Tyler was silent, but Caroline had to fill him in on everything else that happened.

* * *

They walked in the front door of the Salvatore house, and were met with the sight of Damon with a glass of wine in his hand, watching a half-naked Elena prance around. Caroline cleared her throat, alerting them to their presence, while Elena casually covered herself up with a robe.

"Ever learn how to knock?" Damon asked in his usual snaky tone, but his eyes widened when a certain hybrid came from behind vampire Barbie.

"Tyler?" Elena smiled once she saw him. "I thought you left. What brings you back here?"

Tyler gave her a dark look. "Jeremy died."

"Oh, that. Well, whatever, people die, right?" She waved it off like it was nothing, downing the rest of Damon's drink. Was she serious?

Tyler gazed at her, trying to recognize the girl in front of him. He took a step forward, not taking his eyes off Elena. "Can I talk to you? In private?"

"'Course you can." She sent Damon off and he took Caroline out of the room with him. "What's up?"

"What's wrong with you? Jeremy's dead!"

"Yeah, I know. I was there. Is that all you wanted?"

"How could you do just shut it off? How can you not be falling apart right now?"

"Because I don't care." She replied coldly, fiddling with the wine glass. "I burnt the house down because it was just so damn depressing. I turned it off so I didn't have to feel anything anymore. I'm done caring."

"No. You're not." Tyler growled, picking up a somewhat menacing tone. He sped over and pinned her to the wall. He was seething with anger as he tightened his hold, making sure Elena couldn't escape. "What makes you think you deserve that? What gives you the right to just forget about him like that?! You don't get to just stop caring!"

"I've lost everything! Don't act like you know what I'm feeling!" Elena yelled, giving the hybrid a hard push, sending him backwards.

Tyler laughed bitterly. "I don't know what it's like? My parents were murdered! All my 'friends' were killed by someone they thought they owed everything to! Klaus is trying to kill me, I had to leave **everything** behind! So don't tell me _I_ don't what it feels like!" She didn't say anything back, so Tyler just kept going. "He's dead because of you." He could see something in her eyes. Maybe it was pain, maybe it was rage. But why should he care either way? She didn't.

"You just had to keep searching for that stupid cure. You couldn't… you couldn't just live with it, could you? Jeremy would've done anything for you and you let him die. So you're not allowed to just stop. You have to live with it, no matter how much torture it puts you through."

"He was the only family I had left, Tyler!"

"And that makes it okay!? That makes you more important than everyone else?" He was screaming at her now. "I didn't have anyone! Jeremy was the only person left! You don't have a monopoly on pain. We all know what it's like to lose someone. Just because you think the world revolves around you doesn't mean that shit doesn't happen to the rest of us! So you have to deal with it, just like everyone else."

He turned away from her and found Caroline waiting for him by the door. Damon was already by Elena, holding her close, while she kept her eyes on the floor. Tyler rolled his eyes. Right, house full of vampires, why would there be any privacy? He stopped just as Caroline opened the door and threw over his shoulder, "You know something? That pain, that agony, that gaping hole in your stomach that you should be feeling right now… that's what keeps you human, Elena. But I guess you wouldn't know anything about that, huh?" He slammed the door behind him.

The two of them stood on the porch of the Salvatore house for a while before Caroline found the words to break the silence. "We could visit him, if you want…"

Tyler laughed again and scoffed. "Visit? Visit what? There's not even a body. Just leave me alone, ok?" He ran away from there as fast as he could and found himself at the remains of the Gilbert house. There was nothing there, though. What had he even expected to find there? Tyler felt his legs give and he was aware of how pathetic he looked, sitting on the concrete, staring at… nothing.

He took a shuddering breath, one last attempt at pulling himself together. It didn't work. But he wouldn't cry. He wouldn't let himself cry. Jeremy was dead and that was it. He would get over it eventually, like he did with everything else. But for now, just for now, he broke.


End file.
